Aakash 2 Android tablet materializes, costs around $21 for Indian students

It's a few months late, but at least it's hitting the streets for a few less dollars than expected. The Datawind-built Aakash 2 is finally a reality, launching in India on the nation's National Education Day. It's the second iteration of what amounts to a barebones, affordable Android slate, packing a 7-inch touch panel, 1GHz Cortex-A8 processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of Flash storage, Android 4.0.3, built-in WiFi and a front-facing VGA camera. Reportedly, this one's going to be shipped to Indian students for Rs 1,130 (around $21), while outsiders will be able to snag one for closer to $80. Of course, the difference now is that these kinds of projects aren't quite as novel. Indeed, Chinese megashops are hawking low-rate Android tablets right now for around the same amount, setting a new (low) bar when it comes to pricing on ho hum slates. Still, we're all for getting technology into the hands of students, and you can learn a bit more about what those very students can expect from VentureBeat's hands-on just below.